Inmate escapes from Western Massachusetts Correctional Alcohol Center in Springfield

File photo courtesy the RepublicanFile photo: Kristine A. Miele, takes a look around one of the living quarters in the Western Massachusetts Correctional Alcohol Center on Howard Street in Springfield on Monday. Miele took a tour of the Center in 2001 to get an idea of what a person serving time for a DWI might have to go through to recover.

SPRINGFIELD – A minimum security inmate at the Western Massachusetts Correctional Alcohol Center on Howard Street is considered to have escaped after walking away from an education program Wednesday, according to an official with the Hampden County Correctional Center.

The inmate, Efrain Perez, 37, of Springfield, will be charged with escape once he is apprehended, said Assistant Superintendent Larry V. Lajoie. An apprehension team with the sheriff’s department is out looking for him, he said.

Had he not escaped, Perez would have been eligible for parole in May, Lajoie said.

Perez, who was serving time for distribution of a class A substance, is Hispanic and described as 5 feet, 11 inches tall, weighs 190 pounds and with a medium build. He has brown eyes, brown hair, and numerous tattoos on his shoulders, legs and chest.

Anyone who has seen him or who has information about where he is should call either the local police or the correctional alcohol center at (413) 734-1050, Lajoie said.